Week One in New Zealand!

Hello family and friends! Here I am blogging again!

Well I've been in New Zealand for about a week now and it has already been quite an experience! Heck the plane ride itself was an experience! I almost missed my flight from Auckland to Dunedin because they said my hiking boots were a possible biohazard... It was incredible to see how the Lord provided even in that small experience though. Because I was delayed in that line (for about 45 minutes when I had a 2 hour layover!) I had to run through the airport. However there was a random nice woman who asked me if I needed help. She then proceeded to push my luggage in a cart for me and walk me outside for 15 minutes to the right terminal! She helped me load my luggage on the conveyer belt and pointed me in the right direction of the plane! I would not have made the plane without her. Yeah the Lord totally provided there!

So getting here was quite eventful! We have been settling in now for the past week. We have been making frequent trips to the warehouse (essentially their version of walmart) and been checking out lots of the shops here. I've already bought a bag, shirt and cute raincoat! The raincoat has probably been the most useful thing because it seems to rain every day. Alissa and I had a pathetically funny day out in the rain the other day actually. We were trying to go to a Student Life (Campus Crusade over here) BBQ. We walked for a half hour in which time Alissa's umbrella broke, we got lost and we got completely SOAKED! At one point we just looked at each other and couldn't stop laughing. The BBQ ended up being canceled, but we did get a good laugh out of the trip.

My overall thought about New Zealand so far is that it is absolutely beautiful here! We walk through the botanical gardens to get to the grocery store. We went to the peninsula today and saw incredible waves in the ocean. We have walked by rose garden after rose garden.... Yeah it is definitely a visually incredible place! Good place for an art history major actually!

Aside from the natural beauty here, Alissa and I have seen some things that have made us pretty sad. We have had a couple people here tell us that Kiwis are pretty close-minded about God and religion. We were told Kiwis don't like it when "people go around wearing cross necklaces and talking about God." That was pretty heart-breaking. So if you could possibly take a minute and pray for New Zealand now, that would be greatly appreciated. If you could pray for people to be open to God and for people to have soft hearts that are ready to hear the Gospel. If you could also pray that God would lead Alissa and I to people who need to hear the Gospel and that He would give us words to say. While you're praying, I would also ask that you pray for us to make friends with people who are already Christians; we would appreciate it. I know God will answer your prayers :)

Ok well I think that's all I have for now! I hope you enjoyed reading and feel free to message me if you have any questions or comments. Love you all!

Post #1: Pre-departure Ponderings

Hello friends!

Welcome to my blog! I've never actually blogged before, so in addition my New Zealand traveling, this is an interesting adventure in itself!

Well it's hard to believe that in about one week I will be heading off to New Zealand to start my semester abroad. It has been such a long break and I've spent so much time at home that I've become quite comfortable here. It has been nice to spend time with my parents and save up some money before I leave. That being said, I am getting very excited to start my adventure!

There are so many things I'm looking forward to learning: what type of NZ food I like, what the classes (or "papers" as they say) are like, what the people are like! In addition to those things, I'm really looking forward to learning about the Lord. I am excited to stand in awe of how great our Father is when paused at the foot of a mountain or watching the waves crash against the shore! Also I can't wait to see how God is moving and drawing people towards Himself in another country! It's incredible just how big and powerful he is! Powerful enough to draw any person to himself and powerful enough to crash those waves I'll watch into the shore. I look forward to see what he has to teach me while I'm abroad and pray that I will be humble and teachable. It's going to be pretty interesting to see how much I have to rely on God when all my safety blankets have been pulled away! My parents, friends, boyfriend, and just familiar American comforts in general, are definitely places I find solace. And it's not a bad thing at all that the Lord has put so many loving people and great things in my life! That being said, I think I'm going to have a lot of growth in my relationship with Him when I have very little else to rely on. I am a little worried for this aspect of being abroad, but I know that the Lord is my Shepard, my Rock, my Comfort, my Salvation and that He is faithful. As I'm writing here I'm reminded of the verse of Deuteronomy 31:8 where it says, "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

So that's what I'm going to try to do while I'm abroad and even in the time before I leave! I'm going to try to not be afraid because God goes before me.

Well that's all for now! I'll try to post fairly regularly, but I better not make any promises! Who knows how much time I'll have with all the bungee jumping and sky diving I plan to do! (Don't worry mom! That was a joke!) Thanks for reading!